WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:29.560 This is a U.S. Army helicopter flight simulator at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. 00:29.560 --> 00:33.880 When the scientists here needed a computer that could handle the fast graphics and multitasking 00:33.880 --> 00:38.300 required by a simulator, they didn't go out and buy an expensive mini computer system. 00:38.300 --> 00:42.120 They bought a Commodore Amiga, in fact, 15 of them. 00:42.120 --> 00:47.320 Today we take a look at the underrated and too often ignored Amiga on this edition of 00:47.320 --> 01:10.240 the Computer Chronicles. 01:10.240 --> 01:16.360 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte Magazine 01:16.360 --> 01:19.680 and Bix, the Byte Information Exchange. 01:19.680 --> 01:25.560 In print and online, Byte and Bix serve computer professionals worldwide with detailed information 01:25.560 --> 01:28.040 on new hardware, software and technologies. 01:28.040 --> 01:31.040 Welcome to the Computer Chronicles. 01:31.040 --> 01:37.000 I'm Stuart Shaffer and this is Gary Kildall. 01:37.000 --> 01:40.880 Gary, this is an optical worm drive and with something called a handler, you can get a 01:40.880 --> 01:42.920 gigabyte of storage in your computer. 01:42.920 --> 01:46.280 These are 3D glasses used with a very high-powered CAD program. 01:46.280 --> 01:50.080 What's interesting about both these peripherals, they're not for a Mac 2 or a 386 PC, they're 01:50.080 --> 01:51.080 for the Commodore Amiga. 01:51.080 --> 01:55.520 Gary, I get a lot of letters from viewers complaining about the fact that the computer 01:55.520 --> 01:57.880 press seems to ignore the Amiga. 01:57.880 --> 01:58.880 Why is that? 01:58.880 --> 02:02.160 Well, Stuart, I guess part of it's got to be the genealogy of these machines, both Atari 02:02.160 --> 02:04.640 and Commodore with the Amiga, of course. 02:04.640 --> 02:09.040 Our thought of them as game machines and over the years, the power of these machines has 02:09.040 --> 02:12.960 increased tremendously and of course, they still maintain a fairly low price. 02:12.960 --> 02:15.280 Now that low price has been sort of a negative in a sense. 02:15.280 --> 02:18.600 Yeah, they're really getting all the computing power they really need. 02:18.600 --> 02:23.080 But there have been some especially good niche markets these machines are applicable to, 02:23.080 --> 02:24.080 for example, video. 02:24.080 --> 02:26.000 The Amiga handles video very, very well. 02:26.000 --> 02:30.840 And of course, the other factor is the marketing power of IBM and Apple in the United States 02:30.840 --> 02:34.520 and machines like this tend to have more success than outside the United States. 02:34.520 --> 02:39.560 Gary, we're going to take a look at the latest Amiga hardware, the 2000HD and the 2500. 02:39.560 --> 02:43.400 We'll see new Amiga applications from games to multitasking and of course, we'll take 02:43.400 --> 02:46.200 a look at graphics, music and video on the Amiga. 02:46.200 --> 02:50.340 Many people buy an Amiga because of its graphics or video capability, but they soon discover 02:50.340 --> 02:51.760 the rest of its power. 02:51.760 --> 02:55.680 That was the case with some scientists at Stanford's Linear Accelerator. 02:55.680 --> 03:00.320 We have a report from Palo Alto, California. 03:00.320 --> 03:06.160 About 30 miles south of San Francisco is the Stanford Linear Accelerator, a two-mile long 03:06.160 --> 03:12.080 shaft buried deep underground where high energy particles are propelled at almost the speed 03:12.080 --> 03:13.380 of light. 03:13.380 --> 03:19.240 The particles collide in large detectors where the resulting explosion creates several million 03:19.240 --> 03:20.560 events. 03:20.560 --> 03:25.920 To sift through that mass of data and extract the useful information requires staggering 03:25.920 --> 03:31.800 computing power as databases containing that information will soon approach a trillion 03:31.800 --> 03:33.600 bytes in size. 03:33.600 --> 03:38.800 Recently, theorists and researchers at the center added Amigas to their number crunching 03:38.800 --> 03:44.320 mainframes, principally as graphics terminals and for multitasking. 03:44.320 --> 03:50.600 The Amiga was unique in that it was a multitasking machine and we realized that early that that 03:50.600 --> 03:55.560 could create an environment where you would always be on the mainframe if you wish to 03:55.560 --> 04:02.040 be sharing the mainframe and still have a machine which acted not as something independent 04:02.040 --> 04:04.280 but rather as a symbiote off the mainframe. 04:04.280 --> 04:10.120 Dr. Weinstein uses his Amiga to juggle up to four different programs running on either 04:10.120 --> 04:13.320 the mainframe, the Amiga, or both. 04:13.320 --> 04:18.660 He can take advantage of the Amiga's color graphics and the mainframe's calculating powers 04:18.660 --> 04:20.840 simultaneously. 04:20.840 --> 04:27.240 A locally written terminal program is compatible with the REX language operating on the mainframe 04:27.240 --> 04:33.600 so documents can be transferred seamlessly from mainframe to Amiga and back. 04:33.600 --> 04:39.720 For Dr. Weinstein, it's a way to bridge the best of two inherently different worlds. 04:39.720 --> 04:43.960 One is always going to be living with a mainframe so what I want is something that will symbiote 04:43.960 --> 04:49.000 off that mainframe, will make my life as pleasant as it is to work on a microcomputer but allow 04:49.000 --> 05:03.480 me to use that when I'm on the mainframe too. 05:03.480 --> 05:05.360 Joining us in the studio now is Tom Stearns. 05:05.360 --> 05:08.480 Tom is district sales manager with Commodore out here. 05:08.480 --> 05:11.800 And next to Tom is Lou Wallace, contributing editor of Amiga World Magazine. 05:11.800 --> 05:12.800 Gary? 05:12.800 --> 05:14.720 Lou, you're a fan of the Amiga system. 05:14.720 --> 05:19.160 Why do you like the Amiga better than say an IBM PC or a Mac or something like that? 05:19.160 --> 05:26.200 Well, I guess I could just say it's more fun and it is that but it's also more productive. 05:26.200 --> 05:30.680 It enables me to do things that I simply can't do with other computers. 05:30.680 --> 05:31.680 Like what? 05:31.680 --> 05:36.360 Whether it's running more than one application at a time or whether it's playing a game or 05:36.360 --> 05:40.680 whether it's doing both of those at the same time or video applications. 05:40.680 --> 05:46.720 There simply isn't another computer available on the market that can do the range of tasks 05:46.720 --> 05:48.320 and functions that you think it's capable of. 05:48.320 --> 05:50.000 Lou, what do we have here? 05:50.000 --> 05:51.400 What kind of configuration is this? 05:51.400 --> 05:53.000 Let's give us an idea of what's inside the box. 05:53.000 --> 05:56.340 Well, this is the Amiga 2000HD. 05:56.340 --> 05:58.360 This particular model is a 3 megabyte machine. 05:58.360 --> 06:02.200 It has a 40 megabyte hard drive auto boot system. 06:02.200 --> 06:09.800 It has a graphic resolution of 320, 200 to 640, 400, 4000 color speech multitasking. 06:09.800 --> 06:11.280 And the processor is what? 06:11.280 --> 06:12.280 Motorola 68000. 06:12.280 --> 06:15.240 I mean at approximately 8 megahertz. 06:15.240 --> 06:16.240 Right. 06:16.240 --> 06:17.240 Good. 06:17.240 --> 06:20.240 Now you've got a game that demonstrates the graphics, right, in the Amiga. 06:20.240 --> 06:22.480 Yeah, I have a couple of games today. 06:22.480 --> 06:26.560 Both games are very different and show off the machine to its best degree. 06:26.560 --> 06:32.680 The first game is called Menace, and it's a true arcade quality style game. 06:32.680 --> 06:35.320 It's a lot of fun. 06:35.320 --> 06:37.320 I understand Lou's a pretty hot Menace player. 06:37.320 --> 06:38.320 I don't know. 06:38.320 --> 06:39.320 We're going to have to. 06:39.320 --> 06:42.320 I'm going to ask you to describe it, but turn the mouse and the pad over to Lou. 06:42.320 --> 06:43.320 Now I'm on the spot. 06:43.320 --> 06:44.320 You're on the spot now. 06:44.320 --> 06:45.320 Here you go. 06:45.320 --> 06:46.320 Okay. 06:46.320 --> 06:49.120 If you can get it going, and maybe give us play by play, Tom, as Lou starts to play, 06:49.120 --> 06:50.120 tell us what's going on here. 06:50.120 --> 06:51.120 Okay. 06:51.120 --> 06:53.960 The object of this game is to capture the planet Draconia. 06:53.960 --> 06:54.960 Okay. 06:54.960 --> 07:00.800 As you can see, it's done in full overscan, which means that the entire screen is being 07:00.800 --> 07:02.800 utilized for this particular game. 07:02.800 --> 07:03.800 Okay. 07:03.800 --> 07:04.800 Are you playing, Lou, or what? 07:04.800 --> 07:05.800 I'm waiting to attack. 07:05.800 --> 07:06.800 Here we go. 07:06.800 --> 07:07.800 Okay. 07:07.800 --> 07:08.800 So where are we? 07:08.800 --> 07:11.800 So you try to stay alive through the entire game. 07:11.800 --> 07:15.320 It's got great sound. 07:15.320 --> 07:16.320 Is this underwater, Lou? 07:16.320 --> 07:17.320 Is that what's going on? 07:17.320 --> 07:18.320 Yes. 07:18.320 --> 07:19.320 This is the undersea attack. 07:19.320 --> 07:23.360 So just this portion of the game is underwater. 07:23.360 --> 07:24.360 Others take you elsewhere on the planet? 07:24.360 --> 07:31.360 There are six different levels, each one, I think, better and better graphics and interesting 07:31.360 --> 07:32.360 creatures. 07:32.360 --> 07:36.360 Lou, Tom, you were about to talk about why this is a good example of great graphics. 07:36.360 --> 07:37.360 What's going on here? 07:37.360 --> 07:38.360 You mentioned the full scan, the overscan. 07:38.360 --> 07:39.360 Right. 07:39.360 --> 07:40.360 It's got full overscan. 07:40.360 --> 07:44.360 It's got great scrolling technique, terrific colors, great animation. 07:44.360 --> 07:46.360 It's really multi-layer scrolling going on here. 07:46.360 --> 07:47.360 Absolutely. 07:47.360 --> 07:48.360 Yes. 07:48.360 --> 07:52.600 How do these Amiga games compare with the arcade games? 07:52.600 --> 07:56.360 Most of the Amiga games have been ported over from the arcade or their own community. 07:56.360 --> 07:58.960 Lou, actually, you were mentioning you think some of the Amiga games are actually better 07:58.960 --> 07:59.960 than the arcade games. 07:59.960 --> 08:05.080 I think some of the later ones really surpass even the most contemporary of coin-op games. 08:05.080 --> 08:06.080 These graphics are pretty hot. 08:06.080 --> 08:07.080 That's for sure. 08:07.080 --> 08:08.080 You lot, ooh. 08:08.080 --> 08:09.080 Watch out. 08:09.080 --> 08:10.080 What's this? 08:10.080 --> 08:11.080 The enemy multiplies. 08:11.080 --> 08:12.080 Lou, you're hot. 08:12.080 --> 08:13.080 You should see me with a rapid-fire joystick. 08:13.080 --> 08:14.080 I know you could play this game for a long time. 08:14.080 --> 08:15.080 I'm going to play it for a long time. 08:15.080 --> 08:16.080 I'm going to play it for a long time. 08:16.080 --> 08:17.080 I'm going to play it for a long time. 08:17.080 --> 08:18.080 I'm going to play it for a long time. 08:18.080 --> 08:19.080 I'm going to play it for a long time. 08:19.080 --> 08:22.920 I know you could play this game for a long time, Lou. 08:22.920 --> 08:24.280 How far have you gotten in this thing? 08:24.280 --> 08:27.920 I've actually made it to the last level, attacking the last master alien. 08:27.920 --> 08:29.600 You're a super menace. 08:29.600 --> 08:32.560 I've never gotten the last creature yet, but maybe tonight. 08:32.560 --> 08:34.680 It's a good thing your name isn't Dennis, I'll tell you that. 08:34.680 --> 08:38.440 Tom, I'm going to ask you to dump out a menace and get Battle Chess up, okay? 08:38.440 --> 08:39.440 Great. 08:39.440 --> 08:41.360 And while you're doing that, tell us about Battle Chess, Lou. 08:41.360 --> 08:42.360 What kind of game is that? 08:42.360 --> 08:46.520 Well, Battle Chess is your typical chess game. 08:46.520 --> 08:52.400 I mean, you play chess against a computer or against another opponent. 08:52.400 --> 08:56.680 The difference with Battle Chess from more conventional computer chess games is that 08:56.680 --> 09:04.000 the game is in three dimensions, a three-dimensional board with animated chessmen. 09:04.000 --> 09:07.320 And they walk, they have sound effects. 09:07.320 --> 09:12.200 Each one attacks, it captures the other piece in a very characteristic and humorous manner. 09:12.200 --> 09:15.880 All right, Tom, we have Battle Chess up on the Amiga now. 09:15.880 --> 09:16.880 Show us how this works. 09:16.880 --> 09:22.760 Okay, we're going to have this rook overtake, excuse me, this knight overtake the blue knight. 09:22.760 --> 09:24.520 Okay, so the red knight's going to take the blue knight. 09:24.520 --> 09:25.520 Correct. 09:25.520 --> 09:26.520 This would be a normal chess move, right? 09:26.520 --> 09:27.520 It's a knight move capturing a knight. 09:27.520 --> 09:29.280 Yes, it is. 09:29.280 --> 09:30.280 Great graphics. 09:30.280 --> 09:31.280 Okay. 09:31.280 --> 09:32.280 Great sound. 09:32.280 --> 09:35.520 Okay, but in this game, they actually beat each other up. 09:35.520 --> 09:39.920 The final outcome is preordained, just like in normal chess, but you get to watch a little 09:39.920 --> 09:40.920 humor. 09:40.920 --> 09:42.440 Some of them are very creative. 09:42.440 --> 09:44.040 This is right out of Monty Python. 09:44.040 --> 09:47.240 He chops his arms off and his legs off. 09:47.240 --> 09:48.240 Ouch. 09:48.240 --> 09:53.360 Lou, does this have value, you think, to encourage kids to play chess because of the graphics? 09:53.360 --> 09:54.360 It certainly does. 09:54.360 --> 09:58.520 I mean, I've caught my children with books on the rules of chess, learning how to play 09:58.520 --> 10:00.120 just so they can play Battle Chess. 10:00.120 --> 10:02.720 All right, what happens next, Tom? 10:02.720 --> 10:05.800 We have to wait until they finish their move. 10:05.800 --> 10:07.360 Okay, so we're waiting for the knight to die? 10:07.360 --> 10:08.360 One more leg. 10:08.360 --> 10:09.360 There it went. 10:09.360 --> 10:10.360 Okay, blue knight is gone. 10:10.360 --> 10:14.360 Okay, what happens? 10:14.360 --> 10:18.360 Then he disappears. 10:18.360 --> 10:19.360 Okay, so the knight's gone. 10:19.360 --> 10:21.360 Now you're going to do a blue move? 10:21.360 --> 10:22.360 Right. 10:22.360 --> 10:23.360 Okay. 10:23.360 --> 10:26.200 So you actually hear the pawn walk into the next square. 10:26.200 --> 10:31.120 And then we're going to take the rook over to the queen. 10:31.120 --> 10:35.360 Okay, so what, red rook is going to take blue queen? 10:35.360 --> 10:36.360 Correct. 10:36.360 --> 10:37.360 Okay. 10:37.360 --> 10:41.120 It has to access the disc to find that graphic. 10:41.120 --> 10:42.120 Is that what's going on? 10:42.120 --> 10:43.120 Right, we don't have this on our installed. 10:43.120 --> 10:44.120 Okay. 10:44.120 --> 10:46.960 Lou, you were mentioning, this is something like what was in the original Star Wars movie, 10:46.960 --> 10:47.960 right? 10:47.960 --> 10:48.960 That's right. 10:48.960 --> 10:54.640 Remember the Wookiee and the droid were playing and the creatures would actually fight on 10:54.640 --> 10:55.640 the chess board. 10:55.640 --> 10:56.640 Okay. 10:56.640 --> 10:57.640 King Kong. 10:57.640 --> 10:58.640 This is the best part. 10:58.640 --> 11:07.640 That's pretty mean. 11:07.640 --> 11:16.640 Poor queen. 11:16.640 --> 11:24.640 Oh, gosh. 11:24.640 --> 11:26.160 Nice twist to the game. 11:26.160 --> 11:27.160 Nice twist to the game. 11:27.160 --> 11:29.080 This used to be a nice intellectual game, guys. 11:29.080 --> 11:30.080 What have you done? 11:30.080 --> 11:31.080 A new level of class. 11:31.080 --> 11:33.400 All right, thanks for showing this. 11:33.400 --> 11:36.120 Lou, I want to ask you about the graphics on the game. 11:36.120 --> 11:38.960 These are just games and they're not important, but what does it show us about what the Amiga 11:38.960 --> 11:39.960 can do? 11:39.960 --> 11:43.840 Well, games have always taken more computer power than just about any other application. 11:43.840 --> 11:48.000 And the same power that's channeled for games and graphics can be used in more productive 11:48.000 --> 11:52.960 applications such as business, productivity software, and multitasking, which all Amigas 11:52.960 --> 11:53.960 can do. 11:53.960 --> 11:54.960 Right, and they've done that for quite a number of years. 11:54.960 --> 11:55.960 From day one. 11:55.960 --> 11:56.960 Exactly. 11:56.960 --> 12:00.760 So, you want to have a computer that has multitasking built in, and the operating system from the 12:00.760 --> 12:01.760 base up. 12:01.760 --> 12:02.760 Absolutely. 12:02.760 --> 12:04.760 Now, you have some examples that show off the multitasking. 12:04.760 --> 12:05.760 Yes, I do. 12:05.760 --> 12:09.960 I'm going to show a quick little scenario here of what I consider a real world application. 12:09.960 --> 12:14.240 Traditionally, I always start up a virus program to check to watch for viruses in Trojan horses 12:14.240 --> 12:16.640 because you never know when you're going to pick up one. 12:16.640 --> 12:21.840 Then I'm going to load up a partially completed document into just a standard word processor. 12:21.840 --> 12:25.800 But what I want to do is take some data from a spreadsheet, which I did not previously 12:25.800 --> 12:29.480 prepare and incorporate that into the word processor. 12:29.480 --> 12:32.560 So I've got my document, I just push it to the background and you can see that the word 12:32.560 --> 12:35.400 processor is still there and waiting to do whatever I want. 12:35.400 --> 12:36.920 And I'll load up the spreadsheet. 12:36.920 --> 12:40.000 So the point is you're really going to run both programs at the same time. 12:40.000 --> 12:41.000 They're both running. 12:41.000 --> 12:44.520 I could be spell checking or printing or I could have a terminal program running. 12:44.520 --> 12:45.520 So now you're in the spreadsheet. 12:45.520 --> 12:46.520 Absolutely. 12:46.520 --> 12:49.920 These are both active applications right now. 12:49.920 --> 12:56.160 I'm loading up a prepared template, which is a sales history of the Acme Fruit Company. 12:56.160 --> 12:59.600 And using the Amiga clipboard device, I'm going to transport data directly from the 12:59.600 --> 13:04.720 spreadsheet into the word processor by highlighting the area that I want. 13:04.720 --> 13:11.600 And I'll just pop back into the word processor, position my cursor and paste it in. 13:11.600 --> 13:13.840 There you see the data is now part of the document. 13:13.840 --> 13:19.080 But to go a little further, I'm going to incorporate some graphics as well and go to yet another 13:19.080 --> 13:20.080 program. 13:20.080 --> 13:22.000 So you're up to the fourth thing you're running at the same time? 13:22.000 --> 13:25.920 There's actually more tasks than that running because there's DOS and Workbench itself. 13:25.920 --> 13:30.880 So here I'm generating a three-dimensional pie graph of that same data. 13:30.880 --> 13:34.520 Push that to the background, bring up the window. 13:34.520 --> 13:37.880 And now this is a little program I wrote that just grabs all the screens and memory and 13:37.880 --> 13:39.960 saves them off to a RAM disk. 13:39.960 --> 13:40.960 I've already done that. 13:40.960 --> 13:41.960 Now it's done. 13:41.960 --> 13:42.960 It saved the screen. 13:42.960 --> 13:46.000 I don't really need the spreadsheet any longer. 13:46.000 --> 13:50.120 I'll load up a little paint program, which is Deluxe Paint 2, the standard that most 13:50.120 --> 13:52.520 paint programs are compared against on the Amiga. 13:52.520 --> 13:58.120 And I'm going to load up that program, the pie chart that I just generated. 13:58.120 --> 14:00.400 And there it is. 14:00.400 --> 14:06.000 Now all I'm going to do is just clean it up a little bit before I put it in my document. 14:06.000 --> 14:15.000 Clear the screen, position it, and save it back. 14:15.000 --> 14:19.040 All right. 14:19.040 --> 14:20.040 Through with that program. 14:20.040 --> 14:24.520 Let's go back to our word processor. 14:24.520 --> 14:28.240 Select Insert, which allows me to insert graphics into the document. 14:28.240 --> 14:30.080 Change to the appropriate drive. 14:30.080 --> 14:35.040 Click on the graphic, and it will be loaded into the memory of the word processor. 14:35.040 --> 14:36.960 And here you see I now have a graph. 14:36.960 --> 14:39.640 I have spreadsheet data, and I have word processor. 14:39.640 --> 14:42.400 They all were active, and I was extremely productive. 14:42.400 --> 14:43.960 I did not have to stop what I was doing. 14:43.960 --> 14:48.480 I was able to work in the more human stream of consciousness, getting the work done the 14:48.480 --> 14:49.480 way my mind was working. 14:49.480 --> 14:50.920 And the Amiga allows you to do that. 14:50.920 --> 14:51.920 That was a great demo. 14:51.920 --> 14:52.920 Lou, Tom, thank you very much. 14:52.920 --> 14:56.040 In just a minute, we're going to take a look at Deluxe Paint 3 for the Amiga. 14:56.040 --> 14:58.880 We'll also take a look at Video Effects 3D. 14:58.880 --> 15:01.800 First of all, though, if we're talking about the Amiga, we have to talk about its music 15:01.800 --> 15:02.800 capability. 15:02.800 --> 15:05.880 And Wendy Woods has a report on that. 15:05.880 --> 15:14.640 E, also known as Eric Myers, and Mike Kingsley are in a band called Me. 15:14.640 --> 15:21.280 They do their composing in E's converted garage on a variety of electronic musical instruments, 15:21.280 --> 15:25.680 all controlled via a MIDI interface by an Amiga. 15:25.680 --> 15:27.080 Why an Amiga? 15:27.080 --> 15:28.800 It's reasonably priced. 15:28.800 --> 15:32.080 The software currently available fits their needs. 15:32.080 --> 15:37.400 The custom sound and graphics of the Commodore machine, they say, set it apart from the rest. 15:37.400 --> 15:40.200 As computers in the past, they're blind and they can't hear. 15:40.200 --> 15:45.760 This computer, I believe, is the first human-like computer in that it can see and it can hear, 15:45.760 --> 15:50.480 in that it can take in a sample of sound, it can take and digitize a picture. 15:50.480 --> 15:53.440 And what that's going to be great for is it's going to be great for art, it's going to be 15:53.440 --> 15:55.680 great for being able to express yourself. 15:55.680 --> 16:00.240 The software used to create this music is called Texture from SoundQuest. 16:00.240 --> 16:06.460 The program enables them to store 24 tracks on disk, digitally record and control sounds 16:06.460 --> 16:11.760 made by the keyboards and sampler, and to play them back from the computer. 16:11.760 --> 16:17.320 In performance, they use a program called Performance, which supports any MIDI file 16:17.320 --> 16:23.160 format, plays their pieces in a sequence they choose, even allows them to remix sounds for 16:23.160 --> 16:25.160 a live performance. 16:25.160 --> 16:30.200 E and Mike see all this as part of a big experiment designed to test the limits of the 16:30.200 --> 16:33.360 Amiga and their imaginations. 16:33.360 --> 16:38.040 In Saratoga, California, for the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods. 16:38.040 --> 16:52.720 With us in the studio now is Dan Silva. 16:52.720 --> 16:56.640 Dan is the author of Deluxe Paint 3, and next to Dan is Jim Schneider, president of InnoVision 16:56.640 --> 16:57.640 Technology. 16:57.640 --> 17:01.760 Jim, on the last segment, there was a machine here that said Amiga 2000, this one says Amiga 17:01.760 --> 17:02.760 2500. 17:02.760 --> 17:03.760 What's the difference between those two? 17:03.760 --> 17:05.240 Right, this has just been updated. 17:05.240 --> 17:08.160 This is a brand new version of the Amiga 2000 series. 17:08.160 --> 17:10.520 It's called the Amiga 2500. 17:10.520 --> 17:16.880 And this has a 14 megahertz processor, 68,000 processor, and it also contains a 40 megabyte 17:16.880 --> 17:18.600 internal hard drive. 17:18.600 --> 17:24.640 The machine's advantages over the predecessors are that it runs at a 3 to 4 times faster 17:24.640 --> 17:28.920 clock rate, so you get performance in your packages magnified by that amount. 17:28.920 --> 17:33.120 And what would you expect to pay for a package like this as a retail price? 17:33.120 --> 17:39.080 This advanced model with the accelerator would cost about $4,000 for the monitor and the 17:39.080 --> 17:40.080 basic Amiga 2500 system. 17:40.080 --> 17:44.920 And can you compare it in, let's say, computing power with the Mac product line, for example? 17:44.920 --> 17:48.440 Yes, with the Macintosh, Macintosh 2 specifically. 17:48.440 --> 17:52.480 This would gain a slight performance advantage in general processing. 17:52.480 --> 17:55.560 In addition, the graphics co-processor built into all Amigas would give it the advantage 17:55.560 --> 17:56.560 in graphics. 17:56.560 --> 17:59.640 All right, Dan, speaking of graphics, you're the author of Deluxe Paint. 17:59.640 --> 18:02.600 You've got Deluxe Paint 3 coming out in just a couple of weeks, I guess. 18:02.600 --> 18:04.520 What are the new improvements in Deluxe Paint 3? 18:04.520 --> 18:08.640 Well, almost every aspect of the program has been enhanced. 18:08.640 --> 18:11.840 We've got the ability to paint and overscan, which gets rid of the black border around 18:11.840 --> 18:12.840 the picture. 18:12.840 --> 18:14.160 You use extra half-bright mode. 18:14.160 --> 18:17.560 It's an Amiga mode that gives you 32 additional darker colors. 18:17.560 --> 18:22.120 And there's a new font requester, which lets you load color fonts and reassign the font 18:22.120 --> 18:24.200 directory. 18:24.200 --> 18:27.480 There's new fill and paint modes, but the most important feature, and I think the one 18:27.480 --> 18:32.000 I'm going to demonstrate today, is the animation capability. 18:32.000 --> 18:35.520 This I'm going to play an animation that was created entirely in Deluxe Paint. 18:35.520 --> 18:41.120 As you can see, I can create three-dimensional transformations, moving any bitmap object 18:41.120 --> 18:44.320 through three dimensions. 18:44.320 --> 18:49.500 And I'm going to show you interactively how you can actually create animations. 18:49.500 --> 18:53.960 This is still a paint program, and I can paint in every frame, jump to the next frame, and 18:53.960 --> 18:56.000 paint in that. 18:56.000 --> 18:58.200 By doing this, I can create an animation. 18:58.200 --> 18:59.400 I'll play that back. 18:59.400 --> 19:02.960 You'll see I've actually created a moving object there. 19:02.960 --> 19:06.720 In addition, all the normal painting tools can be used to create animations. 19:06.720 --> 19:12.400 If I click this tool, instead of just painting on one screen, I can hold down and key on 19:12.400 --> 19:18.320 the keyboard and paint on separate screens, creating an animation. 19:18.320 --> 19:22.840 I can then reduce the size of the brush interactively and have it fade off in the distance. 19:22.840 --> 19:25.720 And just by hand, I've created an animation. 19:25.720 --> 19:28.960 What does each picture take in terms of storage? 19:28.960 --> 19:30.440 I'm not storing the entire picture. 19:30.440 --> 19:34.760 I'm only storing the differences between the pictures so you can get much more use out 19:34.760 --> 19:35.760 of your memory. 19:35.760 --> 19:38.560 Do you have the ability to change light sources and so forth? 19:38.560 --> 19:41.280 No, this is just a painting program. 19:41.280 --> 19:43.280 There's real no three-dimensional modeling. 19:43.280 --> 19:46.000 I'm moving bitmaps around. 19:46.000 --> 19:50.120 I also have the ability to create anim brushes. 19:50.120 --> 19:53.760 Here's what I call an anim brush that was painted in this program and then picked up 19:53.760 --> 19:57.560 off the screen, cutting through all the pictures. 19:57.560 --> 20:02.840 I can now paint it down on one frame, or if I hold down the animation key, I can fly it 20:02.840 --> 20:04.840 through separate frames. 20:04.840 --> 20:11.320 I'll fly him off the screen here. 20:11.320 --> 20:16.040 Now if we play that animation, we've got a bird flying. 20:16.040 --> 20:19.400 I can also do a three-dimensional move of that to demonstrate the three-dimensional 20:19.400 --> 20:21.400 capability. 20:21.400 --> 20:27.160 I'm going to tell this to start 600 frames away. 20:27.160 --> 20:30.920 I can do a preview of this, see the rectangle coming up. 20:30.920 --> 20:32.480 Now I can tell it to render it. 20:32.480 --> 20:35.480 Now I have a bird flying out of the distance, getting closer. 20:35.480 --> 20:38.880 I can now tell him to keep flying. 20:38.880 --> 20:42.840 He's flying past me there. 20:42.840 --> 20:44.480 Now we've got a bird doing a fly-by. 20:44.480 --> 20:47.040 Here he comes and zooms by. 20:47.040 --> 20:51.640 These anim brushes can be used to do anything that a normal brush can be used for. 20:51.640 --> 20:52.800 You're doing this in real time now, right? 20:52.800 --> 20:54.640 This is all real time. 20:54.640 --> 21:00.520 Just as I can use a normal brush to paint with, I can paint with an anim brush. 21:00.520 --> 21:03.360 This turns out to be an unexpected useful feature. 21:03.360 --> 21:07.760 You can create anim brushes which, for instance, are a bunch of different leaves on trees and 21:07.760 --> 21:11.160 paint trees without them looking repetitive. 21:11.160 --> 21:15.320 So what we've got is a program that's both a full-featured paint program and an animation 21:15.320 --> 21:16.320 program rolled into one. 21:16.320 --> 21:17.320 Dan, that's great. 21:17.320 --> 21:20.400 I want to ask you to slide the keyboard over to Jim there so we can get the video effects 21:20.400 --> 21:21.400 3D up. 21:21.400 --> 21:22.600 Let me ask you while he's getting ready, Dan. 21:22.600 --> 21:25.000 At what level is this kind of paint program being used? 21:25.000 --> 21:26.800 I mean, is this professional level graphics being created? 21:26.800 --> 21:30.400 It's being used both by professionals and by five-year-olds. 21:30.400 --> 21:35.040 It's probably the most popular paint program on Amiga, and I find everyone uses it. 21:35.040 --> 21:36.560 All right, Jim, what do you have? 21:36.560 --> 21:39.760 I have a product called Video Effects 3D for the Amiga. 21:39.760 --> 21:42.840 This is designed primarily for the video graphics industry. 21:42.840 --> 21:47.120 This is a professional level product that allows the creation of animation sequences 21:47.120 --> 21:48.600 for titles and logos. 21:48.600 --> 21:51.240 A lot of times you see these kind of animations on TV. 21:51.240 --> 21:56.160 I have a demo here of several sequences that were created with Deluxe Paint, as a matter 21:56.160 --> 21:57.160 of fact. 21:57.160 --> 22:01.520 These titles were loaded in, and these three-dimensional special effects were created. 22:01.520 --> 22:04.400 We have the ability to do multiple object motion. 22:04.400 --> 22:08.040 You're seeing playback at real-time speeds from computer memory. 22:08.040 --> 22:10.800 Here you're going to see a page shatter, very easy to do. 22:10.800 --> 22:14.600 This is an effect that normally $100,000 machines can do. 22:14.600 --> 22:16.940 Right here, the Amiga word, notice it's flat. 22:16.940 --> 22:20.800 We're going to turn that into a 3D-extruded logo right here just by pressing one button. 22:20.800 --> 22:24.480 That extrudes it into a light-shaded three-dimensional object. 22:24.480 --> 22:27.280 Jim, is this used for broadcast work? 22:27.280 --> 22:31.480 Yes, it has been used in a number of programs, national campaigns, and even TV commercials. 22:31.480 --> 22:33.200 All right, what's next? 22:33.200 --> 22:40.240 Basically, the logos here, or the menus here, are actually explained here on the screen. 22:40.240 --> 22:43.360 One unique feature of the user interface is that if you have a question about a particular 22:43.360 --> 22:44.960 function, you just place your cursor over the button. 22:44.960 --> 22:45.960 It gives you an explanation. 22:45.960 --> 22:48.720 It's very easy to start up with. 22:48.720 --> 22:50.600 The next product I'd like to show is Broadcast Titler. 22:50.600 --> 22:53.240 You have got to load that up now. 22:53.240 --> 22:56.040 What does Broadcast Titler do while you're loading there? 22:56.040 --> 22:57.040 Right. 22:57.040 --> 23:00.280 Broadcast Titler is a professional-level character generation program. 23:00.280 --> 23:09.360 The titles that you normally see on television are generated by expensive equipment that 23:09.360 --> 23:12.240 bring on titles with different effects in high resolution. 23:12.240 --> 23:15.740 This package here does the same thing on a very affordable Amiga system. 23:15.740 --> 23:21.360 We have the ability to display multiple colors, up to 320 colors on a page, with extraordinary 23:21.360 --> 23:24.960 high-resolution graphic characters. 23:24.960 --> 23:28.280 We have the ability to do transitions with each page of text. 23:28.280 --> 23:30.360 We have up to 1,000 pages of storage. 23:30.360 --> 23:32.720 I'll show you an example here. 23:32.720 --> 23:35.920 Here's an example title page that was created with the package. 23:35.920 --> 23:38.960 These are all standard fonts available on the Amiga system. 23:38.960 --> 23:44.440 I can play some of the effects that the program can do, slides from different directions, 23:44.440 --> 23:46.720 nine speeds for all the effects. 23:46.720 --> 23:53.000 The graphics you are seeing here would normally be overlaid over video using a Genlock device. 23:53.000 --> 23:55.480 This is, as well, a very high-resolution package. 23:55.480 --> 23:57.400 All right, Jim, that's very impressive. 23:57.400 --> 23:59.080 This is being used at the professional level. 23:59.080 --> 24:01.200 Is this being used by TV networks now, for example? 24:01.200 --> 24:02.200 Yes, it is. 24:02.200 --> 24:07.200 The actual Video Effects 3D and broadcast title have been used for professional commercials, 24:07.200 --> 24:08.200 national campaigns. 24:08.200 --> 24:12.000 It was even used in the Super Bowl for the Jumbotron scoreboard. 24:12.000 --> 24:13.440 What's the cost of your package? 24:13.440 --> 24:18.840 Our Video Effects 3D is $199.95, and the broadcast titler is $299.95. 24:18.840 --> 24:21.600 This is going to revolutionize the TV production business, I guess. 24:21.600 --> 24:23.200 Jim, Dan, thank you very much. 24:23.200 --> 24:24.200 That's our look at the new Amigas. 24:24.200 --> 24:39.920 We'll be back with this week's computer news in just a moment. 24:39.920 --> 24:44.860 In the random access file this week, an underground group with contacts inside Apple has been 24:44.860 --> 24:48.120 distributing the source code for the Apple Macintosh. 24:48.120 --> 24:52.700 The group, calling itself Software Artists for Information Dissemination, has mailed 24:52.700 --> 24:57.600 out floppy disks containing portions of the Mac code to several industry insiders. 24:57.600 --> 25:03.400 The group says its aim is to spread the genius of Apple developers uninhibited by legalities. 25:03.400 --> 25:07.320 The group says it will distribute the complete source code to the Mac filing system, as well 25:07.320 --> 25:11.000 as the codes for the computer's memory and systems software. 25:11.000 --> 25:13.880 Apple has never licensed its source code to anyone. 25:13.880 --> 25:18.040 Clone makers or individual hackers could use the source code to clone their own low-cost 25:18.040 --> 25:19.040 Macs. 25:19.040 --> 25:23.680 The group says it is investigating and will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. 25:23.680 --> 25:28.080 Lotus has announced that it has added fax capability to its Lotus Express communications 25:28.080 --> 25:29.080 program. 25:29.080 --> 25:33.640 That means you can send a fax using Lotus Express without having a fax board. 25:33.640 --> 25:37.200 Express is used primarily to interface with MCI Mail. 25:37.200 --> 25:42.560 And Lotus has announced a deal with NEC to put 123 and Lotus Agenda on a ROM card for 25:42.560 --> 25:44.920 the NEC Ultralight laptop. 25:44.920 --> 25:49.080 Also coming out on ROM card versions are Lotus Agenda and Lotus Express. 25:49.080 --> 25:55.400 Finally, Lotus has announced a rebate program for purchasers of 123, version 2.2 and 3.0, 25:55.400 --> 26:00.600 offering a $100 rebate for buyers who also purchase freelance or manuscript. 26:00.600 --> 26:05.480 IBM has announced a new high-end desktop publishing program called Interleaf Publisher. 26:05.480 --> 26:09.520 It can import files from graphics, CAD and spreadsheet programs. 26:09.520 --> 26:14.600 And IBM says it will actively market Interleaf Publisher to clone users, breaking the old 26:14.600 --> 26:19.880 big blue tradition of selling only into the IBM user community. 26:19.880 --> 26:22.480 How do you find out what kind of software is out there these days? 26:22.480 --> 26:26.440 Well, there is now the computer software version of books in print. 26:26.440 --> 26:29.320 It's called the Bowker Software Encyclopedia. 26:29.320 --> 26:32.840 It lists over 20,000 personal computer software titles. 26:32.840 --> 26:38.000 The volume has more than 2,100 pages and it retails for $180. 26:38.000 --> 26:39.680 You've heard of large type books. 26:39.680 --> 26:42.040 Welcome to large type computer displays. 26:42.040 --> 26:47.120 A new program called iRelief is a word processor that allows you to display the characters 26:47.120 --> 26:51.240 in enlarged sizes, up to nearly three times their normal size. 26:51.240 --> 26:55.640 It's a great program for those with bad eyesight or for anyone struggling with a laptop and 26:55.640 --> 26:57.200 poor lighting conditions. 26:57.200 --> 27:01.120 It's made by a company called Ski Soft Publishing. 27:01.120 --> 27:03.960 Nintendo says it has a new game up its sleeve. 27:03.960 --> 27:08.960 It is looking into turning those millions of Nintendo game machines into home terminals 27:08.960 --> 27:11.160 for use in a new online service. 27:11.160 --> 27:15.280 Nintendo already uses its machines in Japan as data terminals. 27:15.280 --> 27:19.120 21% of U.S. homes now have Nintendo units. 27:19.120 --> 27:24.120 Finally, in the computer snafu of the week category, New York Telephone has just patched 27:24.120 --> 27:29.000 up one of its long distance dialing programs after it discovered that everyone else had 27:29.000 --> 27:34.680 discovered that a few pay phones on the Long Island Expressway would call India, Pakistan, 27:34.680 --> 27:37.320 Italy and Spain without asking for money. 27:37.320 --> 27:41.120 A phone company spokesman said it was a computer programming error. 27:41.120 --> 27:42.600 That's it for this week's Chronicles. 27:42.600 --> 27:44.760 We'll see you next time. 27:44.760 --> 27:50.880 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte Magazine 27:50.880 --> 27:54.200 and Bix, the Byte Information Exchange. 27:54.200 --> 28:00.080 In print and online, Byte and Bix serve computer professionals worldwide with detailed information 28:00.080 --> 28:04.400 on new hardware, software and technologies. 28:04.400 --> 28:11.080 For a transcript of this week's Computer Chronicles, send $4 to PTV Publications, Post Office Box 28:11.080 --> 28:15.960 701, Kent, Ohio, 44240. 28:15.960 --> 28:44.200 Please indicate program date.